Just as I was comin' to terms with the fact that me and the guys were gonna have to live in this god-forsaken cell for the rest of our lives, Darry and Officer Garret showed up again. My brother hung back while Garret continued towards us, thumbing through the keys hanging from the chain on his belt-loop. Darry had his shoulders hunched and his hands shoved deep in his pockets as he leant back against the wall, a classic Darrel Curtis pissed off pose. I could feel him watchin' me but I deliberately won't make eye-contact with him, desperately hopin' to postpone whatever shitstorm is brewin' until we've gotten the hell outta this station. Since Pone ain't with him I figure he's either sent him to wait in the truck or left him at reception, which I suppose is for the best.
Garret unlocks the door and holds it open, signalling us to hop to it with a jerk of his head. Steve goes first since he's closest, swaggerin' out like he actually wants Darry to kill us and I roll my eyes at Keith before nodin' at him to follow. Two-Bit smirks and starts to move off, then suddenly pulls his leg up and begins messin' around with the cuff of his jeans.
"What the heck are you doin', boy?" Garret barks, clearly pissed at the hold up since I'm in no doubt he wants us outta his hair as quick as possible. I'm wonderin' the same thing as Two-Bit hops about, diggin' around in shoe or his sock or somethin'. Eventually he finds what he was searchin' for and proudly yanks out a screwed up dollar bill. He grins at us triumphantly before quickly crossing over to Ol' Joe and slipping it into his shirt pocket.
"Hope someone will do the same for me someday," he explained as he walked by me to leave the cell and there was really nothin' I could say to that so I just followed on after him. Keith's a good guy.
Darry pushed himself away from the wall as we approached and quickly gave us all the once over, checkin' we hadn't been roughed up or anythin'. Once he saw we were all ok, the shutters came down again and he was straight back into pissed off older brother mode.
"Grab your stuff and let's go, Pony's waitin' in the truck," he directed briskly, his no-nonsense tone making it clear that whatever shit was gonna hit the fan wasn't gonna happen here and I let out a small sigh of relief. The only thing worse than gettin' your ass beat was gettin' your ass beat in public.
Garret got out the ol' tray and we made quick work of puttin' our wallets and lighters back into our pockets under Darry's simmering gaze. I scooped up all Pony's crap too then wasn't sure what to do with it.
"Just throw it in the trash," Steve griped, rollin' his eyes as I struggled to hold it all. Why the frig my kid brother was carryin' around feathers and pebbles and shit was beyond me.
"Just give it here and quit messin' around," Darry snapped, snatchin' the collection from me and tippin' it all into his own pocket before shovin' us both to the side so he could address Garret. "We need the receipt for his car then we'll be on our way."
Steve and I shared a look behind Darry's back at such a blatant dismissal. He was treatin' us like kids and we both knew it.
"He can pick it up in 8 - 10 days, so long as he pays the fine…" Garret trailed off, clearly implying that he wasn't puttin' much stock in Steve's ability to do that. Steve cursed and went to grab the paperwork offa him, but Dar got there first.
"He'll pay it," he barked, haulin' Steve away by the shoulder and startin' to herd us all towards the exit. "Let's go."
"That asshole!" Steve exploded as soon as we'd cleared the doors. "Did you hear him?! 'As long as he pays the fine' There shouldn't even be a fuckin' fine!"
"Okay, Steve, take it easy. We'll figure it out," Darry tried to placate him while continuing to move us away from the station and towards the truck. "Let's talk over here."
As we came to a stop at the curb Pony's curious face appeared in the truck's window, clearly desperate to know what was going on. Darry was facin' away from him towards us but somehow must've known our brother would be tryna sneak a look since he slammed his fist against the passenger door without even turning around and Pony immediately retreated back into the cab. It woulda been funny if shit wasn't so serious. I could see Darry workin' his jaw, preparin' to say his piece, so I decided to quickly jump in and see if I could get ahead of whatever was about to go down.
"Dar, we're so so sorry. None of this was meant to happen, I don't even know why they pulled us over. We tried to keep Pony outta it as best we could, but those cops, man, I swear to god you didn't even meet the craziest one-" I knew I was babblin' even before Darry cut me off.
"Can it, Soda, I'm not in the mood! I've just driven four freakin' hours to come bail out you idiots when I was meant to be drinkin' beers and kickin' back at the lake so the last thing I wanna do right now is listen to excuses! Let's just get make it back home without any more screw-ups then we can talk, ok?" I nodded sheepishly and I guess Steve and Keith did the same since he carried on regardless.
"Ok. So here's what's gonna happen. Soda, you're in the front with me and the kid, boys, you two can ride in the back. And I'm gonna give you two a choice, ok? I can either drop you off at home on the way to the house and I'll be phonin' your parents tomorrow to let them know about everything that's gone on or you can come to ours and I'll deal with you like I'm gonna deal with Soda and Pony. You don't have to decide right now, but I'll need your answers by the time we reach the city, ok?"
"Yeah ok," Steve mumbled, while Two-Bit nodded along. "Sure thing, Darry."
They both quickly moved off to climb into the back, leavin' me alone with my brother for the first time. He caught my eye despite my best efforts and I could see just how hard he was fightin' to keep his anger buttoned down for the journey home. It made me feel real crumby.
"I mean it, Soda, not a word, ok? You do not want to push me any more today…" With that ominous warning he turned on his heel to walk around to the driver's side of the truck, leavin' me to climb on up on the passenger side. Ponyboy was right there as soon as I'd popped the door, starin' down at me with his 'deer in the headlights' face on.
"Darry's super mad, Soda!" He hissed like I hadn't already figured that out for myself and I rolled my eyes at him, givin' him a shove towards the middle of the bench so I'd have room to climb up.
"Yeah no shit, dummy," I bitched back, still smartin' from Darry's dressin' down. "Move over, you're sittin' in the middle!"
"No, I wanna be by the window so I can look out!" He whined, makin' like he was gonna wriggle past me to get out then get back in again after I was in the middle. I quickly put me arm out to block him, no way in hell was I sittin' next to Darry when he was this pissed! Plus it sucked havin' the gear stick between your legs with no room to stretch out.
"No way, you're gonna pass out the second we start movin' anyway!" Pony looked like he was gonna keep pushin' but he suddenly slid backwards with a startled yelp.
"Get in, Soda!" Darry barked from inside the cab and I quickly complied, scrambling up next to Ponyboy who was now frowning into his lap from the middle seat. I swiftly shut the door behind me, not wantin' to give Dar any more reasons to be mad, and silently willed my little brother to do the same for all our sakes. Darry gunned the engine after glancing in the rearview to check Steve and Two were settled, catchin' sight of Pony's pout as he turned back around. "You best fix that attitude, little boy, else I'm gonna fix it for you!" He threatened and luckily Pony got the message and straightened out because I could tell our brother was pretty much at the end of his tether.
We drove in silence for a while, the atmosphere in the cab thick with tension. Darry finally broke the awkwardness as we left Kiefer's limits.
"Have y'all eaten?" He asked out the blue, keepin' his eyes on the road. Pone didn't say anything so I cleared my throat and shook my head as Darry glanced over. "Did y'all sleep?"
"Not really," I replied, wonderin' where he was goin' with this.
"Ok here's what we're gonna do. There's a diner offa Exit 50, we used to stop there sometimes when we drove out here for away games. We'll get some food then y'all can nap once we get back to the house. I wanna know you guys are hearin' me loud and clear when I yell at y'all later and I ain't in the mood to deal with four space cadets!"
"Ok great," I mumbled, because what else was there to say. What I really wanted was to get whatever ass kickin' Darry had planned for me outta the way so I could crawl into bed and forget the last twenty-four hours ever happened, but whatever. Let's go out for breakfast!
"Darry, can I put the radio on?" Pony asked and I love him to death but jiminey christmas sometimes he was just the worst at readin' a room.
"No," Darry snapped, which was pretty self-restrained on his part all things considered. "This whole trip is like a time-out for you guys. You're gonna sit there, in silence, and think about what y'all shoulda done differently and how you're gonna make sure it never ever happens again. You understand?"
"Yessir," We both parroted back, Pony shootin' me a look when I knocked my knee against him in silent warning to keep his freakin' mouth shut. God he was a brat when he was tired. Just as I predicted he passed out about 30 seconds later, his head droppin' onto my shoulder as his mouth lolled open. I rolled my eyes but still adjusted him so his upper-body was resting in my lap, mostly to save him gripin' that he had a sore neck later. But with Ponyboy asleep there was no one to destract me from the ice-cold anger radiating offa Darry and after about five minutes I couldn't stand it any more.
"Pony's out," I blurted, just to break the horrible tension. Darry looked over and I caught him smile fondly before he quickly caught himself and set his mouth back into a solid line of disapproval.
"Good, he's less likely to get in trouble when he's sleepin'." The fact that he'd even responded at all gave me some hope.
"Look, Darry, I know you said you didn't wanna talk about it until we're home but I hate knowin' that you're mad at me so if you could just let me expl-"
"Jesus, Soda, no! We are not doin' this now! I'm bitin' my tongue here so I don't say somethin' I regret but you deserve to sit there and have me mad at you! You messed-up big time, buddy-boy and I expect better from you. You'll get the chance to give your side of the story back at the house but right now I just wanna make it through this drive with murderin' someone so you just sit there and shut up if you know what's good for you!" He'd been careful not to yell because of Ponyboy but Darry's angry voice still vibrated around the small cab and I was surprised the kid hadn't woken up. It certainly put me in my place and I shrank back against the door, feelin' like more of a fuck-up than ever. Jesus, what a disaster. And I still had to make it through breakfast!